


Seaside Dream

by devastating



Series: Sylvix Week 2020 [3]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Accidental Confession, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Felix is a single dad, Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Mentioned Claude von Riegan, Oblivious Felix Hugo Fraldarius, Pining, Second Chances, Soft Felix Hugo Fraldarius, Sylvain Jose Gautier Being An Idiot, Sylvix Week 2020, Trans Sylvain Jose Gautier, background Dorogrid, no beta we die like Glenn, only one tiny grain, there’s like one grain of sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-26
Updated: 2020-09-26
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:15:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26658037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/devastating/pseuds/devastating
Summary: “ Still by the time that they were all walking into Dimitris home and Sylvain was greeted by all of his old friends he was incredibly under prepared to be stared down by the angriest 4 year old he had ever met in his entire life.“Who are you” she frowned and suddenly Sylvain felt his chest tighten. This kid looked like Felix. ”~ ♡ ~5 years of radio silence and hopeless dreams, Sylvain finally reunites with everyone in Fhirdiad only to figure out that a lot more has changed than he thought. |Sylvix Week Day 6: Second Chances
Relationships: Felix Hugo Fraldarius & Sylvain Jose Gautier, Felix Hugo Fraldarius/Sylvain Jose Gautier
Series: Sylvix Week 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1933273
Comments: 4
Kudos: 55





	Seaside Dream

**Author's Note:**

> Hooooo boy this one took forever to write for me. This is by far, the one I spent the most time on and even then I probably could have spent even more time on it but alas, day 6 is upon us and so here it is. The single dad AU we all need!

It had been 5 years and so naturally Sylvain thought that it was justified that he was terrified. 5 years ago he had decided to grab all of his things and high tail it out of Faerghus after his family kicked him out and never to be heard again… or at least that had been the plan until he ran into Dimitri during one of his work trips to the Alliance and now Sylvain was walking around Faerghus airport with so much anxiety that he was practically vibrating in his spot. He hadn’t necessarily _meant_ to lose touch with all of his friends, truly! He didn’t! It just so happened that he got busy with being in a new place and new job…. and it turned out that unless he was the one that started the conversations with his friends... no one would talk to him. It hurt, he will admit to drunkenly saying as much to his roommate Claude. It hurt a lot. Enough that he pettily made up his mind to not talk to them _ever_ unless they talked to him first. 

A whole year passed by without a single word…. 

By the second year when Ingrid finally texted him asking to talk over the phone Sylvain stealthily did not open the message and so he never actually left her on ‘read’ but he also never replied. She didn’t try again after that. Dimitri tried four months after Ingrid and got the same treatment. 

Felix never tried. 

He definitely drunkenly cried about that one. After all, Sylvain _had_ told Felix that he loved him and that he wanted to spend his life with him and if he felt the same way that he would be in Derdriu waiting for him with a home and a new life for him…. actually no he didn’t. He was too scared to do that and had instead told Felix that if he ever needed a place to crash that he would be there in Derdriu for him because he was a coward. And well... Felix never came and so Sylvain forced himself to move on. Of course it was more like his roommate forced him to move on because “Sylvain you haven’t eaten in days, and haven’t gotten out of bed in months, please. He’s not worth you dying.” 

It still took him another 2 years to finally get over Felix which was ridiculous since he had never actually _confessed_ to Felix. They had never even been a ‘thing’! Maybe that was why Sylvain had never been able to gather up his nerves and tell the man that he had been in love with him, the nerves to ruin a friendship that was already so perfect, and that in turn ended up ruining him. But oh well, they were far past that now. You gain some, you lose some…. Not oh well he still cried over Felix to this day but that was no one's business but his own (and Claude’s…. because the man took care of him when he relapsed into a depressive state…it was kind of his business too...). 

Still, 5 years had passed now and when he had run into Dimitri, the blonde had been so unbelievably happy about finding him in the restaurant he worked in. Though at first he hadn’t recognized Sylvain since the redhead had had many changes since the last time they saw each other (turns out that transitioning is so much easier when you don’t live under the roof of transphobic assholes). Still, once Dimitri figured it out he practically burst into tears on the spot as he hugged him like if he let go, Sylvain would disappear. It was nice, Sylvain never realized how much he had missed the man. The two talked and sure enough Dimitri managed to get him integrated into the friend group enough that Sylvain wasn’t extremely nervous about him going over to reunite with everyone. But slowly he was starting to regret ever letting himself get talked into coming to visit everyone in Faerghus because he was on the verge of bursting out into tears for how scared he was. Though that feeling died just a little when he was turning the corner to find not only Dimitri but Ingrid there waiting for him with the biggest smiles on their faces. He couldn’t help the giddy laugh that came out of his lips as Ingrid practically ran over to him and jumped him, wrapping both her arms and legs around him forcing Sylvain to let go of his bags to carry the blonde. 

“Goddess Sylvain I missed you so much.” Oh fuck she was crying. Oh Sylvain was not prepared for tears and was already feeling himself tear up too. Thankfully she quickly pulled away and started wiping her face. “S-Sorry I just, I’ve missed you so much.” 

“I missed you too Ingy” Sylvain smiled before bringing her back into a hug and kissing her temple. “Missed having someone scold me 24/7.” 

She rolled her eyes, “don’t start because I can and _will_ go on a tangent right now.” 

He chuckled before turning to hug Dimitri, “see you’re still a behemoth. I was hoping that would change in the two weeks since we’ve seen each other.” 

Dimitri laughed, “no, I think that I am staying the size that I am for good now.” 

“Damn, and here I enjoyed being the tall one in the group.” 

“Oh talking about the group” Ingrid smiled at him, “Felix is at work but he’ll meet us at Dimitri’s. He should be getting out right now I think so it won’t be long.” 

Ah Sylvain was not ready to see Felix again, still not fully healed for losing him even after all these years. Still, he plastered on his best smile and carried on. Claude had talked him into agreeing to this trip after all, saying that in order for him to move on he needed to actually go to Faerghus and end things properly. Or at least get proper closure by talking to everyone and leaving without any kind of bitter taste in his mouth maybe even leaving without it being a permanent goodbye… he really wished Claude had agreed to coming here with him, goddess dammit Sylvain was not stable enough to make these decisions on his own. 

“How fun, not surprised that he’s a workaholic now” Sylvain mused as the two walked out to the parking lot and towards Dimitris — holy shit that looks so cool — car. 

“Don’t get me started on Felix. I swear he would work his entire life if he didn’t have other things to take care of” Ingrid sighed before turning to Sylvain. “But enough about me, we know nothing about you and what you’re doing so spill the beans or I’m going to start taking drastic measures.” 

Sylvain laughed but ultimately told them anything that they wanted to know. About how he moved to Derdriu without much of a plan and spent the first month in a hotel room and tried to figure out a way to get not only a job but a place to live in. How he met his roommate Claude during one of his job hunting expeditions, literally running into the man when Sylvain hadn’t been looking as he walked into a coffee shop. And how to make it up to him he had decided to take him out to drink and that led to them both figuring out that they both had just moved to Derdriu, didn’t have a job, and didn't have a place either. Together they managed to scrounge up the money they had saved up for a one bedroom apartment and find jobs at the fast food restaurant nearby. By the end of their 6 month lease, the two had enough money to get a proper two bedroom and a better job. 4 years later (and two surgeries for Sylvain) they both still lived together but Sylvain now worked as a bartender in one of the fanciest five star restaurants in the alliance and Claude now owned said fancy five star restaurant. The same restaurant that Dimitri and he had run into. Small world. 

Ingrid was intrigued by the restaurant the minute Dimitri said that it was a nice place and that the food had been pleasant, which actually meant the food was delicious just that Dimitri had the palate of a 5 years old. He did manage to save himself when he mentioned that Sylvain looked good in the suit attire that Sylvain was in for work and so he wasn’t all _that_ offended about Dimitri saying the food at Claude’s restaurant was just ‘pleasant’. 

In return Sylvain found out that Ingrid was actually trying to help her friend open up a bar here in Faerghus herself (to which she was not subtle at all about trying to get Sylvain to hop ship and work here when they opened the bar). And after more questioning he was able to figure out that said friend a was actually Ingrid’s girlfriend of 2 years, that they both lived with each other, and were opening the business together too. Sylvain was extremely excited about this new development because he had called it about her being a lesbian! She didn’t think it was that funny when he said as such, still she smiled. 

As for Dimitri the man had taken over his father’s tech company and was single as can be but extremely happy with where he was at the moment. He was apparently living with Dedue because he didn’t want to be lonely (not because of money, he had plenty, after all he had been the one to pay Sylvain’s plane ticket). And that he now was the proud father of one Tibetan mastiff. And yes, Sylvain immediately demanded to meet the dog and was assured that said dog would be at Dimitri house and ready to be hugged and pampered. Apart from that neither had much else to say, sprinkling a few news about the others like Ashe and Dedue becoming a thing about 2 years ago. Annette and Mercedes opening an animal shelter. Weirdly enough they didn’t mention much about Felix but he guessed that it was because of the fact that Felix had always been “picky” about what people knew about him. 

Still by the time that they were all walking into Dimitris home and Sylvain was greeted by all of his old friends he was incredibly under prepared to be stared down by the angriest 4 year old he had ever met in his entire life. 

“Who are you” she frowned and suddenly Sylvain felt his chest tighten. This kid looked like Felix. _This kid looked like Felix._ A thousand thoughts raced frantically through his mind as he slowly set his bags down on the floor to look at the girl. Infuriatingly enough she was the cutest kid he had ever met, though some would argue that it was because she looked like the girl version of how Felix looked as a child and those people would then point to Sylvian’s history and get blocked on the spot (talking to you Claude). She had short dark blue hair that reached her shoulders, styled into a half pony tail and the cutest jean overalls that were on top of a teal and white striped long sleeve. She was also covered in dirt and dog hair so Sylvain figured that she took after the Fraldarius ‘small tiny goblins’ trait. 

“Isabel, that is no way to say hi to someone” Ingrid sighed, already getting into her scolding mom mode. The little girl’s frown only grew tighter at the sound of that making Sylvain accidentally chuckle because holy shit this was _Felix_ in baby girl form. 

“Hi Isabel, I’m Sylvain” he smiled at her, extending his hand out for her to shake. Ingrid gave him the weirdest look about him being serious but if there was one thing that Sylvain had learned over the years of him interacting with kids was that they _liked_ being treated seriously. And sure enough Isabel's frown quickly disappeared as she took his hand and shook it vigorously. 

“Sylpan” she said with so much confidence that Sylvain didn’t even want to correct her. 

He smiled at her, “yup that’s me.” He looked down at her shoes, noticing the Spider-Man design on it and immediately grabbing on to that for dear life. “Spider-Man huh? I read that when I was younger, but haven’t gotten to see the new movie sadly. I heard it was super cool” he said and watched as the girl lit up like a Christmas tree. 

“I have it, I have it!” she excitedly jumped around, grabbing Sylvain’s hand and immediately dragging him somewhere. “Uncle Mitri let’s me watch it in TV!” 

“Oh really?” He asked turning around to find everyone looking absolutely floored by what was happening, he simply shrugged as he was pulled into another room. 

“Yeah! When daddy goes to work I stay with Uncle Mitri” Isabel explained as Sylvain walked into a room that was already giving him a headache. Toys and books scattered all over the floor and the saddest pillow fort known to mankind in the center of it all. By saddest, he meant that there was literally one sheet hanging from the ceiling in a lame attempt of being a tent and like three pillows on the bottom. That alone was able to cause the neat freak part of his brain to ignore the way his feet crunched on some Doritos and instead put his focus on a much needed architect. 

“Is that your little fort?” He asks, already stepping closer but not touching it in case Isabel was the kind of kid that got upset over her stuff being touched. He had been like that when he was younger after all. 

“It was but Leo got happy” she mumbled, looking out to the side of the room where a dog bed was. Sylvain could connect the dots as to what happened. 

“Well you’re in luck then” Sylvain smiled, “I happen to be the best fort maker in all of Fodland.” 

“Really?” Her eyes were wide with wonder and Sylvain felt himself smile genuinely at the kid. Contrary to everything about him, he actually liked kids a whole lot. Yes he had a really twisted view of having his _own_ kids thanks to his parents constantly asking for him to have them but other people’s kids? Now _that_ , he loved. 

“Oh yeah, no one can beat me” Sylvain smirked, “oh but you were telling me about spider man.” 

Instantly the girl went on a tangent as Sylvain strategically made the fort, sneaking in some cleaning in the process. The entire time Isabel just kept going and going, not even stopping to breath as she went on about the new Spider-Man movie in her own garbled mess of words and about how she had gone to seen it in the movie theater _5 times_ , once with “daddy”, another with Uncle Mitri, another with Uncle Du and Uncle Ashe, another with Auntie Annie and Auntie Mercie, and lastly with Auntie Ing and her “friend” Thea. Sylvain found the image of just Dimitri going to a movie theater alone with a hyper little girl hysterical enough to ask her for more details which she of course gave to her best ability. 

“Sylpan, Sylpan” she was tugging on his shirt now as she dragged him over to the newly formed fort that was now not only structurally sound, but big enough that both her and him could fit in plus the inside was more akin to a nest of pillows and blankets and so all in all, the girl was beyond happy. “Look this my favorite blankie. It has _horses_.” 

Sylvain could die a happy man knowing that karma bit Felix in the ass and that his daughter was a horse girl after all the years of Felix making fun of _him_ for being a horse guy. Haha suck on that dick head! 

“Wow I love horses” Sylvain genuinely replied. “I actually have one, you know?” 

“You do!?” 

“Yup. Her name‘s Lulu, she’s pretty cool” Sylvain shrugged and heard the girl squeal in joy as she _demanded_ to know more about Lulu and asked if he could see her right that instant. 

“Isabel sweetie” Annette called out, poking her head into the fort. “I know you’re having fun but Sylvain hasn’t eaten yet so he has to leave for a bit okay?” 

“I have food!” She exclaimed proudly as she pulled out a crumbled bag of Doritos and held it to Sylvain. “You can eat while we watch spider man.” She said so seriously that Sylvain chuckled, this girl had his entire heart already and it had only been about 20 minutes. 

“He will, but we made food. Uncle Du made us all food” Annette explained and in the blink of an eye, Isabel was no longer smiling or laughing. 

“No! He’s watching spider man” she yelled out, grabbing Sylvain’s shirt desperately as she glared at Annette. Her eyes were already tearing up and her little fists were shaking. “He’s staying! He’s not leaving!” 

“Isabel” Annette's voice turned stern but the little girl just shook her head and when Annette tried to crawl in the girl just kicked her feet at her and yelled, tears streaming down her face. 

Instantly Sylvain turned around, “hey sshhh shhh it’s okay Issy,” he whispered, the nickname immediately soothing the smaller girl enough that she was looking at him instead of Annette. “I’m not leaving, come on. You can come eat with me and then you and I can watch movies all night if you want.” 

She sobbed, her hands clenching tighter. “I’m not hungry.” 

“That’s okay. You can just come with me to grab the food and then we’ll come right back” he smiled at her, bringing up his hand to wipe away the tears that were running down her cheek. “It won’t be that long and I promise that I’ll watch spider man with you.” 

“Pinky promise?” She mumbled quietly. Sylvain simply brought his hand up, pinky out and let her small pinky wrap around his. 

“Pinky promise.” He smiled at her before slowly getting out of the tent, Annette looking relieved that the tantrum was avoided, giving Sylvain a small smile. 

“Sylpan.” 

He looked down and found the girl with her arms out, a pout and some tears still going down her face. He smiled down at her as he leaned down to pick her up in his arms and instantly the girl buried her face in his chest, hands clinging onto him as he adjusted his hold on her. “There. Better?” He immediately got a shake. He sighed quietly, turning to Annette. “I’ll be out in a bit.” 

“Okay, if you need help just call” she smiled before walking out of the room. 

Sylvain remained standing, Isabel in his arms as he began to quietly hum some random song that he had heard Claude hum at one point during their time living together. Swaying slightly as Isabel quietly sobbed. She didn’t speak though, simply kept her tiny grip on his shirt and sobbed. This was so much more different than how Felix had been when he was younger and would come to Sylvain for comfort. Felix had always been a loud and messy cryer, whereas Isabel the only reason why Sylvain knew she was still crying was because of the wetness slowly spreading over his chest and the occasional sob. Still. Sylvain soothed her just like he remembered doing it for Felix and after a couple of minutes, Isabel’s breathing evened out and he recognized that she had fallen asleep. He continued to hum as he walked out of the room, following the sound of voices and to what he hoped was the kitchen (this house was unnecessarily big Dimitri what the hell). Eventually he did find everyone and by everyone that also meant Felix. 

Needless to say the only reason he didn’t have a bigger reaction was because he was scared of waking up Isabel. Still, he felt his heart clench painfully tight at the sight of the man. Goddess the years had been good to him, or maybe Felix was just going to be perfectly beautiful in his eyes because fuck he was breath taking. Despite the bags under his eyes and the newly formed wrinkles, Felix was still beautiful enough that Sylvain would pay good money to have someone paint him. 

Of course no one knew he was thinking that as he walked in with a smile. Thankfully he was given a breather when Annette walked over to him, “how is she? Is she asleep?” 

“Yeah, I think she got tired of crying” he answered nonchalantly, finally finding the courage to look over to Felix and talk. “She’s a cute kid.” He grinned. 

“Thanks,” Felix answered. His eyes looked Sylvain up and down and the redhead had never been happier about deciding to be “extra” and get on a plane wearing nice clothes instead of falling into his urge to wear just sweats and a t-shirt. At least Sylvain knew that he looked hot, wearing khakis, a button up maroon shirt, and a dark brown trench coat. Mix that with the overall, ‘he actually was able to fully transition and now was actually confident with himself’ bit and well. He could proudly admit that he knew he looked hot which was the only reason he wasn’t flipping shit about Felix giving him a one over. 

“Oh here, I can take her to another room to have her sleep” Dimitri quickly spoke up, walking over and carefully grabbing Isabel but the minute she was no longer touching Sylvain she woke up and started crying. Obviously Sylvain snatched her out Dimitris arms and back into his, humming to her until she fell back to sleep. 

“It’s fine if she sleeps in my arms, not like she’s heavy” he shrugged. Smiling at Dimitri who looked extremely shocked about what had just happened. “...what’s wrong?” 

“Oh nothing, I’m just not used to seeing Isabel calm down so quickly.” 

“Ah well Dimitri you forget that I’m the kind of man that people naturally love, don’t take it too personally” he winked and that earned a small chuckle from the blonde. 

“Oh Felix you should’ve seen Isabel, she has been talking to Sylvain nonstop since she met him” Mercedes smiled, Sylvain taking this time to sit down at the dining room table between her and Ingrid. “She was even laughing.” Felix frowned at that statement and Sylvain was way too out of practice with ‘Felix mannerisms’ to understand if that was just a natural frown or a ‘I don’t like that frown’. 

“She was showing me the horse blanket” Sylvain smirked as he turned to Ingrid. “I think that’s karma don’t you?” 

Ingrid snorted, “oh you weren’t there to see the first time she proudly said that that was her favorite animal. Felix nearly had an aneurysm.” 

“I did not” Felix huffed as he sat down on the table, the other joining them as Dedue and Ashe put down all the food in front of them. It was a little awkward for Sylvain to not only take off his coat, but to eat since his hands were literally full, but he wasn’t complaining. That and he had seriously missed Dedue and Ashe’s food so much so there was not a single part of his body that _wanted_ to complain. 

“I remember Felix trying super hard to get her to like literally any other animal” Annette mused. “He took her to the zoo three different times and even went as far as to say that _monkeys_ were ‘cool’ but every time she would just ask for horses or the striped horses.” 

“I love that so much” Sylvain laughed, turning over to Felix with a smirk and pointing at him. “And _that_ is karma for bullying me about my love for horses.” 

“Piss off, horses suck and you know it.” 

Sylvain fake gasped, “I’ll tell Isabel you said that.” 

“Don’t.” 

Everyone laughed at that. The entire group fell into normalcy as they talked over dinner. Everyone obviously asked Sylvain a thousand and one questions while Sylvain tried to figure out about their own lives but unsurprisingly everyone wanted to know about him more than to fill him in on everything. That was fine he guessed, he was going to be here for a whole week so he figured that he’ll have time to corner everyone one by one and catch up with them individually…. well not everyone he wasn’t sure if he was ready to talk to Felix alone especially giving the whole ‘I have a daughter now so obviously _I_ love someone else’ thing. Yeah. Isabel was lucky she was cute or Sylvain would be extremely bitter about her being born at the moment. 

“So wait, your roommate has a cat” Ingrid asked Sylvain who simply nodded. “Sylvain you’re allergic to cats.” 

“Not deathly so I’m fine.” 

“ _Sylvain_.” 

“It’s fine, I‘ll grow immune to him” Sylvain smirked but before he could say anything else, he felt the little body pressed onto him squirm around and a small groan came out from her. Slowly she opened her eyes and yawned, using his chest to rub her face (and drool) on him before looking up at him with still very sleepy eyes. “Morning Issy how’d you sleep?” 

Instantly the girl perked up and smiled at him, “dream about Lulu.” 

“Oh Lulu came and visited you?” 

“Yeah!” 

“Who the hell is Lulu?” At the sound of her dad’s voice the girl immediately turned to look at him, a big toothy smile on her face and Felix’s own face softened with affection. 

“Sylpan’s horsie!” 

“Sylpan?” He asked and instantly Sylvain could see how much he was struggling to not say that that was the stupidest shit he had ever heard. She nodded and on the side Sylvain heard Ingrid snort quietly. “I see, very interesting.” This time Sylvain was having to hide his own laughter at how serious Felix looked. 

Deeming that the end of the conversation, Isabel turned to look at Sylvain. “You promised.” 

“That I did” Sylvain sighed before pushing his chair back, and standing up, the girl still in his arms. “I’m sorry my dear friends but I have an appointment with Miss Issy that I cannot reschedule.” Isabel giggled happily. “So I must bid you all adoo” he spoke before dramatically bowing, the little girl squealing in glee. 

He tapped his arm again, “again! Again!” 

“Again?” He asked her with a smile before once again bowing but this time with more jump to his step and then throwing her up in the air, or more like 2 centimeters from his hands but Sylvain had been blessed by the goddess with one thing and one thing only, he had always been a pretty tall guy, so Isabel squealed nonetheless. 

“Again!” 

“I thought we were watching spider man?” 

“Again!” 

Sylvain chuckled before repeating the action and once again the little girl squealed happily and giggled. Tapping Sylvain’s arm for him to do it again and well, he had never been able to say no to a Fraldarius and so he obliged. He did that a total of 5 times before his back started reminding him that he was not in fact 20 years old anymore and so he put Isabel down despite her tapping on his arms. 

“Give me a sec Issy, you’re lucky I still go to the gym or I would have quit after the first time” he breathed out. 

“One more time” she asked, her arms reaching up to Sylvain and had it not been for the fact that when he stood up after putting her down that his entire spine cracked like a glow stick, he _would_ have done it one more time. However, his spine _did_ crack like a glow stick and so he instead kneeled down in front of her. 

“Better idea.” 

“Better?” And just like that he snatched her up and put her over his shoulders, the little girl squealing at how fast he was able to do that. Her little fingers curling around his hair as he grabbed her ankles. Now Sylvain had just planned on putting her on his shoulders and letting her have fun as you know, being tall. Of course the little Fraldarius had other plans, quickly kicking at his shoulder with her feet. “Heya! Go Sylpan! Go!” She giggled as she kicked him again and wiggled around on his shoulders and suddenly Sylvain was fully aware that he had accidentally made himself her steed. 

He chuckled, sighing as he shook his head, giving Ingrid a small shrug before humoring the girl and going wherever she kicked him towards. Eventually having to run because ‘faster Sylpan faster!’ And once again Sylvain really wished that he could say no to at least one fucken Fraldarius in his life because dammit he was out of breath after the fourth time being forced to run up and down the stairs. 

“One sec one sec” Sylvain wheezed out, leaning on the wall to catch his breath. Of course little Miss Fraldarius would have none of that, kicking at his shoulders and squealing. 

“One more time!” 

“You said that last time.” She had. Sylvain foolishly believed her. 

“One more pleeeaasssseee.” 

“Why don’t you have uncle Mitri do it?” 

“No I want you” she giggled as she squirmed around, her giggles and voice were really adorable, truly, but Sylvain was starting to think that maybe this kid was a brat. Just a slight chance that maybe she was a bit spoiled. He certainly wasn’t helping her not be spoiled since he breathed in before once again doing as she asked. By the time he was done with his “lap” he wisely decided to stop in the dining room where hopefully his friends would save him. 

“Oh so nice of you to join us Sylvain” Ingrid teased, snorting at the way Sylvain wheezed. 

“I’m too old for this” he breathed out, of course Isabel was a cruel little thing because once again she was kicking at his shoulder. 

“One more time Sylpan one more time!” 

“You’ve done that enough times don’t you think Isabel” Ingrid, bless her soul, spoke up. 

“Not about you Auntie!” Isabel snapped and instantly the room's mood shifted before Felix spoke up. 

“What was that Isabel?” Sylvain felt Isabel tensed on top of him. “Isabel I asked you a question.” 

“I’m sorry” she mumbled. 

“You’re not answering my question.” 

Ingrid looked over to him, “it’s fine Felix she’s jus-“ 

“Stay out of this. Isabel. Answer.” 

“Said not about you auntie” she mumbled. 

“And are you supposed to talk to your aunt like that?” 

“...no…” Sylvain felt her shift around on his shoulders and so he carefully put her down on the floor, the poor girl no longer looking at anyone and instead at the floor. 

“Apologize to her” Felix spoke up, the little girl flinching slightly before turning over to look at Ingrid, her eyes tearing up already. 

“Sorry auntie.” 

“Alright, now go to the tv room. I don’t want to see you until I come get you” Felix spoke and instantly Isabel started crying but still she listened to him. Crying and sobbing as she walked away, the image breaking Sylvain’s heart instantly. She looked so small and alone and he knew deep down that yes Felix had to scold her for talking to Ingrid like that but still…. it hurt seeing Isabel cry. 

“Felix you didn’t have to scold her” Ingrid breathed out. “She was having such a good time too.”

Felix huffed, “that wasn’t the first time she acted up today. Annette told me that she tried kicking her earlier today. She knows better than to act like this.” 

“She’s just happy about Sylvain” Ingrid breathed out, shaking her head slightly. “But i know, she’s your kid.” She sighed. Something told Sylvain that Ingrid and Felix usually butted heads about his parenting and judging by the way the others were looking at Felix, he guessed they bumped heads about it too. 

Yet he really couldn’t deep dive into that because suddenly the crying got closer as Isabel walked back into the room. Wiping her face with little fists as she looked over to Sylvain helplessly, that alone caused his chest to tighten. 

“Sylpan..”

“I told you to go to the other room” Felix spoke up but before he could say anything more Sylvain walked over to Isabel and kneeled down in front of her. 

“Your dad said to go to the Tv room” he spoke calmly. “You have to listen to him.” 

“B-But you promised spider man” she sobbed out, rubbing snot all over her sleeve. Sylvain sighed, grabbing a napkin from the table and wiping her face. 

“I did but you got in trouble remember? You can’t talk to your aunt like that” he spoke gently as he cleaned up her face. 

“But she wanted us to stop playing!” 

“I know,” he said, putting the used napkin on the table. “But you could have said that nicer. You could have said that you didn’t want to stop playing and she would have understood. What you said was wrong.” 

Isabel simply sobbed, a small shiver running down her body as the tears still kept coming. Sylvain sighed, grabbing her small hand and kissing it before shuffling closer to her. “Hey Issy, look at me. Issy. Look at me.” She looked up, only now did Sylvain realize that her eyes were a beautiful pale blue. “Why are you crying?” 

“B-Because dad’s mad.” 

“And he has every right to be,” he answered bluntly, another sob came out of the small girl who had not expected him to answer like that. “What you did was wrong. You know he wouldn’t be mad if you didn’t get in trouble right? That you didn’t do a good thing right now?”

“Yes…” 

“And if you listen to him he won’t be mad anymore” he continued, wiping the last remaining tears from her face with his finger. “If you go to the other room he’ll stop being mad faster you know? And then we can watch that movie.” 

“We can…?” 

“I promised didn’t I? Now say sorry to your dad for not listening” he nudged her with his hand, the smaller girl frowning slightly before looking up at Felix. 

“Sorry dad…” 

“Okay, you still have to go to the room” Felix spoke, but his face was a lot softer than before. Isabel simply nodded, looking over to Sylvain one last time before walking away, this time with no sobs or tears. Sylvain sighed before standing up, hands behind his head and stretching. 

“She’s cute” he sighed, looking over to Felix and smiling. “She also behaves a lot better than all the other kids I know. Probably has better manners than some of my own friends honestly…. You’ve raised her well Fe.” 

At that Felix looked startled, probably not used to being complimented on his kids behavior. And Sylvain would bet good money that he was the first person to side with Felix on his parenting skills instead of arguing with him about it. Yes of course he would have done things slightly different hence what he did right now, but Felix clearly was doing things right just a little more bluntly than most people. Plus Felix had never once lifted his voice and had been patient so Sylvain saw that as good parenting even if it was a bit “prickly”.

“Thanks” Felix mumbled before looking away from Sylvain. 

The redhead simply rolled his shoulders before sitting back down on the table and sighing louder, “goddess but she really did put me through hell and back. I think I’m going to be sore tomorrow.” 

Felix snorted, “that’s a good thing.” 

“No it really is not! I actually enjoy being able to walk without feeling any pain thank you very much” Sylvain scoffed before turning to Dimitri. “Anyways I was promised a dog and I’m not seeing one anywhere.” 

“You still have energy to deal with _another baby_ ” Ingrid breathed out exasperatedly. 

“It’s a baby?! Dimitri! If you don’t bring that puppy out right now I swear to every fucken saint out there that I will fight you until you bring me that good boy.” 

Dimitri sighed standing up, “I will grab him” he spoke before walking out of the room, only a few seconds later he walked into the room with what was a black and brown ball of fur with tiny legs and the cutest face known to mankind… obviously it wasn’t tiny, the thing was already bigger than a basketball and once he was carrying it, it weighed maybe 20-30 pounds. Still, that didn’t stop Sylvain from absolutely fawning over the damn thing and hearing Dimitri gush about his “baby”. 

Naturally everyone just smiled and sighed at the way that Dimitri went into a long and detailed tangent about all of the training the little guy was going through and the food he was on. He went as far as to walk over to grab some treats to show Sylvian all the tricks he already knew, which Sylvain would admit. For it being a 3 month old puppy this thing was well trained, it was more than just impressive. 

Somewhere along the way the conversation shifted from the dog to Annette’s and Mercedes animal shelter to the flower shop Ashe worked in to how Ingrid met her current girlfriend (which he was alerted he would be meeting tomorrow). He was so engrossed with the conversation that he never noticed Felix get out of the room to check up on Isabel. It wasn’t until a few minutes passed by that he felt a slight nudge on his shoulder and looked over to find Felix there. 

“Isabel says you promised.” Instantly Sylvain smiled before turning to the others. 

“Sorry but I pinky promised the little lady” Sylvain sighed, standing up from the table. 

“Oh that’s fine, actually I’m probably going to head out anyways” Mercedes spoke up. 

“Me too, I work early tomorrow” Ashe sighed. 

“Let me bring Isabel then so she can say bye to all of you” Felix sighed before walking out of the room and a few minutes later walking back in with a much happier Isabel by his side. 

“Leaving?” Isabel immediately frowned at Sylvain and he couldn’t help but chuckled. 

“Nah not me, I still want to see the movie after all.” She instantly beamed at him before turning to the others. Mercedes and Ashe saying their goodbyes to the little girl and then to Sylvain though they promised to come back tomorrow to hang out some more. Half way through the goodbyes Ingrid got a text and decided that she too was going to leave and so by the time Dimitri was closing the front door only Annette, Felix, Isabel and him remained (Dedue not so discreetly saying he was going to give Ashe a ride home and that it might ‘take a while’). 

“Ashe and Dedue are cute” Sylvain mused and Annette nodded next to him but before he could get the gossip about those two there was a small tug on his arm. 

“Sylpan. Movie” Isabel reminded him, swinging slightly on his arm as she pulled on him. 

“Lead the way then” he smiled at her, the girl quickly wrapping her little fingers around his wrist and dragging him away, the redhead turning to give the other a wave before he was forced to sit inside the fort with Isabel on his lap and watch spider man. About halfway through the movie he realized he needed to go to the restroom but it was at that exact time that Isabel inevitably fell asleep and so Sylvain was simply going to suffer. Eventually the movie did end and Sylvain had no way to actually stop the movie from looping and calling out to the others for help so he did the only thing he could do. Gently readjust Isabel until he was carrying her and then struggle to get out of the fort without moving too much (it was a lot harder than he thought) and after a lot of cursing and many near death moments where he almost tripped and landed directly on his face, Sylvain was able to stand up and get out of the fort, using his foot to turn off the DVD and walk out of the room. 

Following the soft voices of the others but as he walked into the dining room all voices stopped and they looked at him as if he had just walked in on the most sacred conversation known to mankind. “Uuum movies over” he explained, eyeing all three of them questioningly. Feeling suddenly very self conscious of himself. 

“Oh dang it, it’s already so late” Annette mumbled as she started gathering her things. 

“It’s fine Annette you can sleep here if you want, I have enough spare rooms” Dimitri smiled but she just shook her head. 

“No I need to help with some stuff really early so I’d rather not but thank you” she smiled, hugging Dimitri and then Felix. Walking over to Sylvain and giving him a half hug, “I’m so glad you’re back Sylvain, I missed you so much. Maybe next time you’ll actually pay attention to us instead of Isabel.” She smiled as she gave Isabel a small kiss. 

“I make no promises, she’s too cute to ignore” Sylvain smirked and that earned a small giggle from the redhead. 

“Here let me walk you out” Dimitri said as he stood up and despite Sylvain’s frantic ‘no please no’ look, he walked away and he was left alone with Felix. He shifted slightly on his spot before chastising himself, he had spent the entire day okay with Felix there was no need to be awkward now dammit! Felix deserved his friend back, just because he was an idiot that fell in love with him didn’t mean that Felix should be reaping the consequences.

“She is really cute,” Sylvain said, looking down at her fondly. “She has your frown you know? The minute I saw that little sucker I knew she was yours.” Chuckling slightly before looking up at Felix who was once again frowning at him but there was also another layer to that stare, one that Sylvain couldn’t quite make out. 

“Yeah she frowns a lot” Felix answered, looking away and the moment was over. “Anyways Dimitri has an extra room here for her so come on” he spoke before walking up the stairs, Sylvain following wordlessly. Taking the time to actually admire how nice and big Dimitri’s house was (he wasn’t joking about the amount of spare bedrooms he had). You could clearly see where others helped him decorate and where the ‘Dedue lives here’ spots were but other than that, the house actually felt extremely like Dimitri, which was nice. 

Felix sighed as he opened up one of the doors, the room decorated in blue lions and other toys, clearly a kids room. Sylvain smiled as he looked around, he guessed that Isabel spent a lot of time here to be able to have her own room. Carefully he made his way to the room and towards the bed where Felix had already pulled back the covers. The two stayed quiet as Sylvain put her on the bed as Felix took off her shoes and as much of her clothes that he could without waking her up. Eventually Isabel snuggled into the bed and Sylvain walked away to give Felix and her some space, sighing once he was out in the hallway and running his hand through his hair. A small part of him hated how domestic all of what they did right now had been. And by a small part he meant his entire heart because that was the future he had wanted to have with Felix. He had wanted to give Felix exactly this and more and being able to get a glimpse into it killed him so much. Still it had been his fault for never actually taking the plunge and confessing to Felix and now it was too late. So all he could do was sigh and repress all of those emotions. 

“Sylvain?” 

He jumped slightly, turning around to smile at Dimitri, “shit sorry, didn’t hear you.” 

“Yes you must be tired” he nodded, “Felix and Isabel are spending the night so they’ll be fine. Why don’t I show you to your room, you had a long day after all.” 

“I would like that very much” Sylvain breathed out, letting his friend guide him to his room where he immediately fell into the bed and if he dreamed about a happy family living by the sea then no one had to know about it. 

**~ ♡ ~**

“Sylpan” he heard a small whisper, instantly he knew who it was but he also could recognize that it was really early in the fucken morning and that little miss Fraldarius could go wake up her dad or Uncle Mitri and let him sleep in. He had never been a morning person to begin with but having fallen asleep at around 3 in the morning clearly meant that he was not supposed to wake up anytime before noon. 

“Sylpan.” He groaned. “Sylpan.” 

“Not now Issy” he mumbled but that only caused the little brat to start pushing on his arm. 

“Sylpan I had a bad dream.” 

Well Sylvain was bright awake now, pushing himself off his stomach to look at the little girl, very aware of the fact that his “too early” was right since it was still dark outside. Isabel nudged him again, this time grabbing his hand and pulling him to try and get him out of bed. 

“Bad dream,” she whined and Sylvain was already sitting up. 

“Okay okay” he whispered, “do you want to sleep here with me?” Really she should be going to wake up her actual dad but Sylvain didn’t actually mind it all _that_ much. He had grown up being woken up by all of his group of friends during all of their sleepovers after all. 

Isabel nodded hesitantly, eyes drifting to look down at the bed and then up at him, Sylvain simply smiled at her, grabbing her small hand and helping her get into the bed. Shuffling around until he was laying down with his back to her and already feeling his exhaustion take over. Of course that was the exact moment that Isabel decided to grab at his shirt and start tugging. 

“Sylpan.” 

He hummed, but Isabel just continued tugging until Sylvain turned over. The redhead barely opening his eyes to ask what was wrong but his words were quickly stopped as Isabel scooted closer, her face nuzzling into his chest as she curled into him. Her feet were cold and her hair was in his mouth but Sylvain was still smiling at her. Wrapping his arms around her and tucking her head under his chin. It took a little more adjusting but eventually, Sylvain was able to get comfortable enough to sleep. 

However he was immediately woken up again about an hour later with Isabel just shaking his arm and frowning down at him. 

“I’m thirsty” Isabel mumbled, tugging at his hand again one more time. Sylvain sighed, whatever exhaustion he felt long forgotten as he swung his legs out of the bed. 

“Alright alright” he yawned, not even bothering to turn on the lights as she led him down the stairs and towards the kitchen, her small bare feet smacking on the wood as Sylvain stretched behind her, scratching his chest. He was still very clearly sleepy and would much rather do literally anything else but this but he figured that if Isabel was waking _him_ up again it was for a good reason at least. 

“Sylpan?” 

He hummed at her, turning the corner into the kitchen and actually turning the light then. Taking a quick glance around him and glancing at the stove clock. 5:53 am. Fucken hell he had only gotten like 3 hours of sleep at most, no wonder he felt like shit. 

“Sylpan.” 

“What is it Issy?” he stifled a yawn, turning to look at the small girl. She was still standing at the entrance of the kitchen and shifting in place. 

“No monsters?” She mumbled, her eyes darting around the room. 

“No monsters” he smiled at her, walking over and holding out his hand for her to grab and leading her into the kitchen. “Is that what you dreamt about?” She only nodded, walking over to the small stool (obviously made for her) by the kitchen pantry and climbing on it to sit down. “Well you don’t have to worry about monsters Issy, not while your dad’s around.” 

“He’s not here sometimes,” she mumbled. 

“Ah, well uncle Mitri also knows how to fight monsters you know” Sylvain smiled at her. “And auntie Annie is really good at making them go away.” 

“You too?” 

“I’m the best at getting rid of monsters. No monster can stand a chance against me,” Sylvain grinned at her, kneeling in front of her and fixing her messy bed hair, finding the hair tie deep in a knot and pulling it out. Gently brushing the hair with his fingers enough that he was able to put the hair in a ponytail. 

“Not even scary ones?” 

“Especially scary ones.” She instantly smiled at him and it took everything in Sylvain to not just lean forward and kiss her temple. She wasn’t _his_ kid, he had just met her. Baby steps Sylvain, baby steps… he tousled her fringe instead. 

“Do you want me to make you hot chocolate? I can see if Uncle Mitri has some, though I’m sure Uncle Du for sure has some somewhere in the house” he mumbled as he walked over to the pantry, scavenging around for the ingredients that he needed. He couldn’t cook for shit but one perk about becoming a bartender was that he was able to make drinks and those even included nonalcoholic ones (that, and he worked as a barista for 3 years before Claude managed to open up his restaurant so he was good with anything drink related). 

“Hot chocolate! Hot chocolate please” Isabel squealed in excitement and once again Sylvain found himself chuckling, of course Felix’s kid liked sweets. The universe really was mocking Felix in every kind of way. 

“Alright then I am going to make you my _special_ hot chocolate, it’s a special _monster_ repellent” Sylvain hummed as he started pulling out whatever he needed, thanking Seiros for the fact that Dedue’s pantry had literally everything he could ask for right down to even mini marshmallows. 

His “special hot chocolate” was actually just the hot chocolate that he had one day decided to make for Claude during one of his shifts in the old coffee shop he worked at and Claude had insisted on having him make it again for him whenever it got cold or stormy. Pretty simple recipe, milk, cocoa powder, and sugar in pan until simmer and then add chocolate chips, a dash of vanilla extract, _and_ the ‘secret ingredient’ which was adding peppermint extract to that until everything melted in a nice creamy beverage, served with mini marshmallows and some chocolate syrup drizzle. Was it too fancy for a 4 year old that was probably used to the normal instant chocolate milk powder? (He saw that nesquik powder and yes he was going to yell at Dimitri for that because that was offensive) Yes. Yes it probably was a bit fancy but Sylvian didn’t give a shit about that, quickly humming as he prepped the drink for Isabel and it only took a couple of seconds before little hands were on the counter and eyes looking at what he was doing. 

He smiled at her before slowly explaining to her what he was doing and even letting her eat one (1) handful of chocolate chips while they waited for them to melt in the pot. Telling her that it was the peppermint that got rid of monsters and then having to talk her out of not drinking the whole bottle of extract because “no it only works when mixed with chocolate Issy, drinking the bottle will not help.” She still eyed that bottle for the rest of the time they cooked. 

It was 6:15 am by the time that he was giving her the hot chocolate (in her Spider-Man sippy cup because it has to be in that Sylpan) and making sure to add two ice cubes just so that she didn’t burn herself and covering the rest of the hot chocolate for her to drink later. Or maybe Dedue and Dimitri would want some who knows, he made enough for at least 4 more cups and it didn’t taste bad when it was reheated. Of course once she finished drinking the hot chocolate she started saying she was hungry so there was Sylvain, trying his best to make scrambled eggs for her because he was already in the kitchen anyways. Of course the eggs weren’t as cool as the hot chocolate but she still ate them with gusto. 

“Oh, good morning” Dimitri’s voice interrupted Isabel's now two hour rant about why horses were better than cats (something Sylvain felt she had actually argued with Felix about at one point). 

“Morning” Sylvain smiled as Isabel waved at him excitedly. 

“Sylpan made monster milk!” Well guess that was the name of it now. 

“M-Monster milk?” Dimitri mumbled quietly and eyed the little girl curiously, clearly still not fully awake as he walked over to the back door to take Leo out to go potty, turning to Sylvain and raising his eyebrow. 

“Hot chocolate with a special ingredient to get rid of monsters” Sylvain winked at him and Dimitri only chuckled softly before looking around. 

“Is Felix awake?” 

He shrugged, “don’t know, Issy woke me up because she had a nightmare and was thirsty around like 6 i think.” 

Dimitri frowned before turning to Isabel, “did your dad not sleep with you?” 

Isabel immediately looked guilty, staring down at her hands and shifting in place. “...he did…” she mumbled and Sylvain couldn’t even be annoyed that she had woken him up despite her dad literally being in the same bed as her…. she was too cute to get mad at. 

“Then why did you wake up Sylvain?” Dimitri sighed, turning to his friend. “I’m sorry, if you want, I can take care of her so that you can go back to sleep. I know you must’ve only gotten a few hours of sleep after all.” 

“Nah it’s fine” Sylvain shrugged him off, “I’m used to having weird sleeping hours. Worst that’ll happen is me having to take a nap later today” he smiled at Isabel. “You can wake me up whenever you get scared okay?” 

She smiled and nodded at him before turning to Dimitri. “Uncle Mitri can Leo play?” 

“Yes he can, he’s outside” he smiled at her and immediately Isabel was out of her seat and running out to the backyard….with no shoes…. 

“Wait, Issy hold on,” Sylvain called out to her, putting down his cup. “You should put on some shoes before running outside, don’t want you stepping on rocks.” 

“But Uncle Mitri said I can go play” she huffed. 

“You can but you should also put shoes on” Sylvain lifted his eyebrow at her giving her his best ‘dad’ stare he could muster. It apparently worked because she only grumbled a little before running up the stairs to grab some shoes. 

“You know I never thought you would be good with children much less like them” Dimitri mused. 

“Oh I love kids” Sylvain smirked at him. “A friend of mine back home works as a preschool teacher so whenever she needs help or anything I usually volunteer to do it. But I can get why you’re shocked, in highschool I made sure to stay away from all of that like if it was the plague” he chuckled before turning to put his and Isabels things in the sink, making a mental note to wash everything later. 

“Yes I remember you almost hating it when anyone brought up kids but I can understand why. I will say though that I am happy that Isabel seems to like you as much as she does, she still is wary of most of us after all” Dimitri sighed. 

“She is?” That shocked her, Isabel was one of the friendliest and least shy kids he had ever met. It literally had only taken him to ask her about Spider-Man for her to like him after all. 

“Yes she is still not all that comfortable with Dedue, Ashe and even Ingrid at times. It is only recently that she’s okay with Mercedes too. For the most part she’s comfortable with me but only because of how often I’ve taken care of her and well Annette was the one that hung out with her the most when she was first born so she’s been the favorite since day one. She’s shy but mainly she just doesn’t feel comfortable with others, around a year ago she had a very bad problem of hitting anyone that tried to get close to her, Felix had to work on that with her of course but let’s just say that last night i had fully been prepared to stop her from kicking or slapping you in one of her fits” Dimitri explained before chuckling. “It was a bit shocking to find out from Annette that it was actually her who almost got hit and that you had been the one to calm her down. It’s certainly the first time she listens to anyone that isn’t Felix.” 

“Does she not have other kids or people that she hangs out with?” 

Dimitri sighed, shaking his head, “no. You know that Felix has never been the most sociable and he also doesn’t trust any daycares either and since she’s too young for school she has only ever been with us. Ingrid and I have tried talking Felix into taking her out more but by the time that we managed to do that Isabel was too scared and uncomfortable with being around strangers.” 

“I’m surprised that it’s just you guys” Sylvain hummed, he desperately wanted to ask why Dimitri wasn’t talking about a mom or the mom’s friends and families but he figured that it wasn’t his place to ask about Felix’s relationship. 

“I have shoes” Isabel exclaimed, stopping the conversation as she walked over to show Sylvain that she did in fact have shoes on….though they weren’t of the same match, still shoes nonetheless. 

“That’s great! See now you can run and play with Leo as much as you want” he smiled at her and that was all it took before the little girl was slamming open the back door and running out to play with the small puppy. Dimitri chuckled as the two of them walked out to the backyard to keep an eye on them, sitting down on the lawn chairs. 

“Sometimes Rodrigue takes care of her but it is usually just us, it has been like that since she was born” Dimitri sighed. “You are probably wondering what happened with her mother.” 

“It’s not really my place to ask.” Though he did turn to give Dimitri the ‘keep going’ look.

Dimitri chuckled, “I see you’ve learned not to be as nosy as before… but this is fine I think. During our last year of highschool Felix decided to go on a date with a girl he knew, not sure if it was from his science class or math class. Either way it was just a one time thing since Felix said that he couldn’t really stand her…. 4 months later she comes to him telling him she’s pregnant.” Dimitri sighed. “Felix was the most miserable I’ve ever seen him be and he was angry at anyone and everyone but they decided to keep the child. They weren’t together but he still went with her to all the doctor appointments and even put effort into trying to make things work out between them. And then Isabel was born and the next day the mom left, sent Felix a text saying that she couldn’t have this ruin her life and we haven’t heard from her since. And yes, Ingrid has already called dibs that when we find her, she’ll be the first to punch her.” 

“Fuck that’s terrible” Sylvain mumbled, not really sure what to say. Of course he was incredibly pissed off that Felix had that happen to him but at the same time he felt frustrated at himself for not having been there to help Felix or at least be there for him.

“It is, and there was a moment where we were all worried that Felix would end up giving her up like her mother but he never did. Instead he only got even more protective of her and by the time we graduated he moved out and made sure to start working with Rodrigue so that he could provide her with everything she could hope for. Of course because of that he hasn’t really trusted anyone to help with Isabel, hasn’t really come to trust many people since then and I think that has rubbed off on Isabel.” 

“Yeah kids can sense that kind of thing, but at least she’s loved and cared for. And she knows that she is too” he smiled as he watched Isabel trip and immediately get up without any care, simply continuing to chase Leo around in glee. “Plus I distinctly remember Felix being a little shit when he was younger so it’s only reasonable that she’s a bit difficult too.” 

Dimitri barked out laughing, “yes you are right, it is in the Fraldarius blood after all. That is what Rodrigue said too when she first started throwing her tantrums” he chuckled. “Oh by the way, I hope you don’t mind but I told Rodrigue that you were here and he wanted to see you since he says that he misses you as well.” 

“...Really?.... you sure? Last time he talked to me, he told me i was banned from his house because i broke too many windows” Sylvain hesitantly looked over at Dimitri to see if he was joking or not. 

“...a fair punishment if you ask me….. but yes, he does. I think he especially misses the way you were able to get through to Felix, you always managed to be the one to talk Felix into being a better person after all” Dimitri sighed and Sylvain had to do everything to not flinch at what he said. It was true, he was the main reason why Felix wasn’t unbearable to a lot of people back when he was in his life but also it was because he was madly in love with Felix and that was why he was so ‘good’ at reading Felix. He would never admit to how many hours he spent during his highschool days just watching Felix while the other wasn’t looking. Or how he would go out of his way to make sure the younger man was okay because the thought of him not being okay made him panic.

“Well hey, I miss good ol Fraldaddy” he snickered at the face Dimitri made. “He was cool, like a second dad to me…. Or more like that one _really_ tired uncle.” 

“I think he was that to all of us if I’m being honest” Dimitri sighed before they both heard the back door open and out came an incredibly grumpy and still clearly sleepy Felix. 

“Fucken hell that’s where you are” he grumbled before sitting down on the other lawn chair, yawning and glaring at his daughter. “...Little shit…” Sylvain chuckled. 

“She’s been with Sylvain all morning” Dimitri explained to him. “Woke him up around 6.” 

“Fuck sorry, you could’ve just woken me up” Felix grumbled, his face scrunching up in the way that Sylvain was sure meant that he was about to go and scold his daughter about that. 

“It’s fine I don’t mind at all, I told her that she could come wake me up if she ever wanted to.” He did, just barely right now though and not before, but he also didn’t want her to get in trouble for something like that. He honestly did not mind at all. 

“Dad!!” Isabel's shrill screech stopped the conversation as she ran over and hugged her dad. Felix immediately smiled at her before kissing her head, lifting her up so that she could sit on his lap.

“Morning.” 

She giggled, “Sylpan made monster milk!”

“What the fuck is monster milk?” Felix frowned and Isabel gasped. 

“That’s a no no word!” 

The older man just rolled his eyes, “grown ups can say no no words. But what’s monster milk?” 

“Ah that would be hot chocolate” Sylvain chuckled, smiling at the way the other man was interacting with his daughter. 

“With peppermint!”

“With peppermint” Sylvain added and immediately laughed at the grossed out face Felix made. “Oh it’s not that bad you grouch, some people actually enjoy the stuff I make you know.” 

“Sounds like straight up sugar” Felix grumbled. 

“Dad dad, can Sylpan come over to our house today? I told him about rocky (the toy horse she had) and about pula (the other toy horse..) and and about Rosy (..toy horse…) and-“

“We’ll see” Felix immediately cut her off with a sigh. “Sylvain’s going to be busy today.” That instantly made the little girl frown. 

“But why?” 

“What the hell do you mean why?” Felix frowned at her and Isabel only replied back with an even more intense frown. Sylvain had to bite his lip to keep himself from laughing at the two though he couldn’t exactly hide the way that he was looking at them fondly. 

“Why does he have to be busy? You're always busy, why does _he_ have to be busy too” she grumbled and Felix sighed. His face slowly looked more tired than before. 

“He came here to visit just like your grandpa does sometimes.” 

“Grandpa comes to visit _me_ so Sylpan is here to visit _me_ ” she was glaring now and goddess dammit she was adorable in her own bratty way. 

“Sylvain is not here for you.” 

“Why!” 

“Because I said so” Felix hissed, trying desperately to keep his temper under control and since he was feeling charitable, Sylvain stepped in.

“I came here to visit all of your uncles and aunts,” Sylvain smiled at her. “But I am also here for you which means that I have to pay attention to _all of you_.” 

“But I don’t want that,” she huffed. 

“I know Issy but how about this, I make you monster milk every morning from now on if you let me see the others” he smirked at her and instantly the little girl beamed at him. 

“Yay!” She squealed out before jumping out of her father's lap and running out to the yard to continue playing with Leo, the little thing having the attention span of a goldfish and deeming that conversation no longer interesting. 

“You’re not giving my kid sugar every morning.” 

Sylvain chuckled, “then you break that news to her,” he smirked at the way Felix frowned at him, leaning back and sighing. “But hey, where’s Dedue?” 

“He spent the night with Ashe,” Dimitri answered, “Anyways I think we should all start to get ready.” 

“Why?” 

“We’re having breakfast with Rodrigue!” 

~ X ~ 

Needless to say, Sylvain was having a wonderful time right now. 

Dimitri had decided to go out to take a business call about 30 minutes ago and left him alone with not only Felix but also Rodrigue in the middle of the restaurant they were in which would have been usually a nightmare of a situation if it hadn’t been for Isabel because well….. she kept asking the worst things and it was absolutely hysterical for Sylvain to watch. 

“So if you’re not my uncle then what are _you_?” She frowned, a whole strawberry in her little hand and blueberry jam all over her cheek as she eyed Sylvain. 

“Sylvain is your father's very close friend,” Rodrigue smiled. “They’ve known each other since they were your age.” 

“Like Uncle Mitri?” 

“Yup just like your uncle” he smiled patiently. 

“But Uncle Mitri is my uncle so then Sylpan is my uncle” she frowned at them. Sylvain decided to sit this conversation out and let the Fraldarius’ decide what his title was going to be for the girl. It was true that if he hadn’t stopped talking to Felix that he probably would also have the title of uncle (maybe even his rightful title of godfather, fuck you Dimitri that was totally supposed to be his) but he _had_ stopped talking to Felix and so now they had to figure out what exactly he _was_. 

“Sylvain is not your uncle” Felix sighed and that only served to make Isabel even more confused. 

“Sylvain is your father’s friend,” Rodrigue explained again. 

“Like Thea is Aunt Ingrid’s friend?” Sylvain didn’t think he could be blamed for actually choking on his drink and having to excuse himself to go and cough in the privacy of a restroom…. and also to cry a little about being compared to Dorothea who was in fact, Ingrid’s girlfriend. Still he let himself have a pity party for a little while longer before heading back out, he was two tables away when he heard Isabel exclaim with pride only a princess could have. 

“Sylpan’s my daddy!!” 

He promptly turned around and walked right back to the restroom to give himself another few seconds to cry internally. Going as far as to even text Claude about what was going on and because his room mate was a horrible horrible man he simply replied with ‘get rekt’. 

He sighed before walking out of the restroom once again and actually being able to sit down on the table before he could think about running back to the restroom. “Sorry I swallowed wrong” he chuckled lightheartedly. 

“Daddy” Isabel immediately pointed at him with a smile like if she had just been let in one the best news alive. “Daddy!” 

Both Felix and Rodrigue sighed and at this point Sylvain was tired enough to not care, leaning forward and smiling at the girl. “Is that so?” Isabel only giggled at him before Dimitri finally _finally_ walked back in. 

“I am so sorry about that, there was an issue at work” he sighed before sitting down, “I have managed to fix everything though so I shouldn’t be getting called anymore.” 

“Uncle Mitri! Sylpan is my daddy!” 

To be fair Dimitri had left while they were talking about how it was like for Sylvain to live in Leicester and came back to this mess so Sylvain understood why Dimitri was left gaping at Sylvain like a fish out of water. 

“Oh... I wasn’t aware that you and Sylvain were back together” Dimitri suddenly smiled brightly at Felix and once again Sylvain was choking, actually having to hack up the drink because that went the entirely wrong tube. Thankfully Dimitri was there to pat him on the back to help...and by luckily he meant unluckily because the minute Dimitri’s hand made contact with his back Sylvain was propelled forward to the table and his face nearly slamming down on his food. Of course Dimitri was now apologizing profusely, Rodrigue was asking for water from the waiter, Isabel was laughing and Sylvain couldn’t see what Felix was doing but he assumed that he was either frowning or smirking because that was all Felix did. Either way Sylvain was barely able to breath by the time he heard someone clear their throat and there stood Ingrid, arms crossed over her chest and eyeing everyone warily. 

“Do I want to know what happened?” 

“I think Dimitri’s trying to kill me” he croaked out, to which Dimitri stammered and Felix burst out laughing, Rodrigue trying his best to stifle his own laughter, and Isabel joining her dad. 

“I don’t even want to ask,” Ingrid sighed before turning to Rodrigue. “It’s nice to see you sir.” 

“Always nice to see you Ingrid.” Rodrigue smiled politely. 

She smiled while she walked over and gave everyone hugs before joining them, “I’m sorry for being late, I had somethings to take care of”

“Like your girlfriend?” he smirked, earning him a slap on the arm from Ingrid. 

“You’re the worst” she huffed but smiled, he could tell that Ingrid wanted to say something but once again, Isabel was his silent savior. 

“Auntie Ingrid, Sylpan is my daddy!” Or not. 

“Oh… he is?” She asked hesitantly, to which Isabel giggled and nodded. 

“You really like him don’t you?” Rodrigue smiled at his grandchild. 

“Daddy plays with me and makes the monster go away” she beamed. 

“Does he now?” 

“Yeah and he talks to me about horses and-and he watched Spider-Man with me a-and he- and he played horsies with me — and he carries me, and he makes me breakfast and-and he plays with me.” Isabel explained, having to take deep breaths between her words for how fast she was talking. 

“Oh wow all of that” Rodrigue grinned at the small girl, Isabel nodding furiously. 

“A-And he says he can ride horses and that he’ll teach me” she beamed at that, looking over to smile big and wide at him. “And that he has horses!” 

“Wait, you have horses,” Ingrid asked. 

“Saying ‘horses’ is a very big exaggeration,” Sylvain chuckled. “I have _a_ horse and one of my friends owns a ranch so she lets me keep my horse there with her other ones.” 

“You have a HORSE?!” Ingrid exclaimed, slamming her hands on the table. “And you didn’t mention that?!” 

“She mentioned this last night and plus you didn’t ask,” he smiled at her, taking a dangerous sip of his water. 

“He has one!” Isabel squealed, “It’s a Cly— a claude— a cla- cl-“ 

“A clydesdale.” 

“YOU HAVE A CLYDESDALE?!” 

“Ingrid” Dimitri smiled, patting Ingrid’s hand to get her to not make an entire scene in the restaurant. 

“You have a Clydesdale? How?” She hissed, voice lower than before but still clearly excited. 

“You see when a man is single, has no car payments, no kids, and no other responsibilities. He can buy very expensive things that he dreamed about having as a little kid. I just got lucky that I have a friend that’s willing to let me keep her in her ranch. I got her about 2 years ago” he shrugged. He was choosing to leave the part where he had drunkenly bought said horse and that when he ended up picking up the little foal the next day he had cried for hours and then panicked for another few hours because ‘oh shit where do i keep the horse’. He was also choosing to leave the part that his friend that owned the ranch hadn’t been his friend at first and just some random girl that had a ranch and was willing to house the horse if he paid money for it. All of those things were honestly, unnecessary for the current story. 

“I want one!” Isabel exclaimed happily, looking over at Rodrigue expectedly and the poor man looked so troubled as to what he should say. On one hand he definitely had the money to afford a horse but on the other hand Isabel was 4 which meant that the horse was going to be someone else’s responsibility. And currently, no one in the group knew how to take care of horses except for the man that didn’t even live in Faerghus anymore (Ingrid loved horses but she has never owned one).

“Well I am sure that Sylvain wouldn’t mind you visiting him and his horse” Rodrigue quickly settled on that as he looked at the redhead. 

“If you ever come down to Leicester sure. And you can come to the ranch and see _all_ of the pretty horses” he smiled at Isabel. 

“Dad, I wanna go to Lesper! I wanna go! I wanna go!” Isabel squealed excitedly, grabbing Felix’s arm and tugging on him with each word. “Please dad, please!” 

“I work” Felix huffed and immediately Isabel looked like she was in tears. 

“Well we can always have her fly out to Leicester to stay with Sylvain” Rodrigue quickly spoke up, not wanting to see his grandchild cry. “Like I always sent you and Glenn to Adrestia sometimes to visit relatives—” 

“No.” 

Isabel immediately started crying and Rodrigue looked two seconds from yelling at his own son but was instead standing up to grab Isabel's hand and walk her outside to calm her down, Felix huffing at the glare his dad sent him as they left. 

“Stop talking about horses to my daughter” Felix immediately snapped at Sylvain as if all of this was _his_ fault. 

“Oh I’m sorry Felix, I wasn’t aware that I can't talk to your daughter about the one thing she’s the most excited about” he answered back sarcastically, part of him actually getting annoyed that Felix was mad at this. If Dimitri was right, this was the first time his daughter ever liked someone so quickly so _maybe_ encouraging her warming up to new people was something that he should be doing. 

“You’re getting her hopes up for nothing.” 

“If she wants to see the horses I will gladly let her see them” he answered, waving his hand at Felix. “ _You’re_ the one that is stopping her from that.” 

“She is not going anywhere.” 

“Then that’s on you, don’t go blaming this on me Felix” Sylvain sighed, rubbing his face with his hand. He had forgotten how easy it was to get into arguments with Felix and was severely out of practice. “Look. I get it. You can’t promise her that she _can_ go visit me and you don’t want her to get sad once you have to break the news to her. But if it’s a matter of taking care of her, I can and will gladly do just that. You can do what Rodrigue recommended and look, I’ll even buy the plane ticket so you won’t have to worry about money. And if you don’t want her to be away from you then _you_ can come over too and we can work out the smaller details” he sighed before smiling at the younger man. “I’m just saying that it’s not as impossible as you think it is Felix.” 

“Highly doubt that it’s as easy as you’re making it out to be.” 

“And so then we look at the middle ground and voila, it won't be easy but it won’t be hard either” he winked at the man, stealing a French fry from his plate and smirking at the way Felix looked like he wanted to stab him. “Plus it’s either this or I buy your daughter a horse and then you’re really going to hate me.” 

“I will kill you” Felix hissed and Dimitri immediately laughed. 

“I missed you Sylvain, truly” he smiled at Sylvain and then winced in pain when Felix kicked him under the table. 

“Please tell me you don’t actually have the money to just buy another horse,” Ingrid asked. Sylvain looked away immediately and took a sip of his juice. He did. He really really did have the money to get like 5 more horses if he wanted to honestly. Claude paid him well and Sylvain was stingy enough to hoard most of his money for more “fun stuff” instead of buying random small things here and there. 

“If you buy her a horse I’m having the damn thing stomp you” Felix huffed and immediately Sylvain laughed. 

“As if a horse would ever listen to _you_ ” he smirked at the man before looking up and watched as Rodrigue came back inside with Isabel. The little girl sitting back on her seat with a small sniff. “Hey Issy.” 

She looked up at him questioningly as if he was going to say something to make her cry again. Immediately Sylvain knew what to do, he might get punched for it. Scratch that, he was definitely getting punched for this but he also knew it would be so worth it. 

“Want to see a baby horse?” He said pulling out his phone to show the foals that lived in the ranch that he kept his mare at. 

He immediately got kicked on the shin as Isabel screeched loud enough to nearly burst his ear drums.

~ X ~ 

Needless to say, Sylvain was supposed to be spending his time with friends. He was supposed to be outside lounging by the pool chairs, drinking, and laughing with everyone as they all caught up with each other’s life. He most certainly had come down here to do just that (maybe not the lounging in pool chairs part but certainly the ‘catching up with everyone’ part). He was however, not doing that in the slightest. 

“Okay you can jump now Issy” he smiled as the small girl hesitantly jumped from the pool ledge and to his arms. Her pink floaties keeping her afloat as he gently put her down into the water. “See, told you I would catch you” he grinned at the little girl. 

When he had been told by Dimitri to pack a swimsuit he had no idea why that had been the case. Now though, he was wondering why Dimitri hadn’t just told him that they were going to go to Rodrigues house while he came here to visit where the man had a pool. Then again, he figured Dimitri was just awkward like that. Or maybe he didn’t know how to word it to Sylvain that everyone had tried to teach Isabel how to swim but failed so miserably at it that the little girl was now terrified of the water. 

“Don’t like it” Isabel immediately grumbled as she held onto Sylvain’s arm for dear life. 

“It’s fine I promise I won’t let you go.” 

“That’s what Uncle Mitri said….” Sylvain made sure to glare at Dimitri who was too far away to know why the redhead was glaring at him but Sylvain sure as hell was going to keep glaring. Of course Dimitri had been the one to fuck up the pool for the small girl, the man was either way too gentle or not gentle at all which sucked when dealing with small children.

“Well I’m not Uncle Mitri am I” Sylvain smiled down at the girl. 

“No...you’re daddy..” It has been 4 hours since he was given that title and Sylvain was still finding it harder and harder to cope with that title. If anything, the longer time passed, the harder it was for him to handle it. 

“I-I am” he choked, coughing to the side before slowly walking away from the edge of the pool to the middle, the entire time Isabel just kept looking down into the deep abyss of the pool… now Sylvain was in the short side of the pool which was at most 3 ft deep and right at Sylvain’s waist but it was incredibly deep to someone as small as Isabel. 

“Okay so Issy I’m going to—you have to- you have to let go— Iss-ISSY” Sylvain was now trying his best to pry the small girl from his body but Isabel had wrapped all of her limbs onto him and was holding on for dear life. “Alright, we can do this too” Sylvain sighed before slowly leaning back, his hands wrapping around the small girl. She squirmed a little but for the most part stayed frozen in place even as Sylvain managed to make it so that the two were now floating on the water. She was way too scared to learn anything today so the least Sylvain could do was get her to be comfortable. 

Of course after a while it was getting progressively harder to stay floating with the extra “weight” and so he gently swam around the pool on his back until his head hit one of the many pool floats, a tacky blue and green monstrosity that was neither a donut or a pool noodle. Still, it would do the job and so after a lot of struggling (Isabel was practically a _leech_ ), he managed to get the pool float on his back and now was able to float around comfortably. 

“You look comfortable” Felix’s voice spoke up, causing the redhead to look to the side to find Felix sitting on the ledge with his feet in the water. Sadly, the man had forgone being shirtless and was wearing a rash guard instead much to Sylvain displeasure. 

“As comfortable as I can be with a little sloth clinging to me” Sylvain grinned, Isabel only clinging to him tighter though she wasn’t as scared as before. “What the hell happened?” 

“I was at work so I let Ingrid, Annette, and Dimitri take care of her. The three thought it would be cool to take her to the water park because for some reason they thought that she knew how to swim already. She was fine at first but apparently the wave pool was what ruined everything. I don’t let those three take her anywhere anymore unless they’re with Mercedes or Dedue since those two haven’t fucked up yet” Felix sighed. 

“...Ashe has?” 

“How do you think she learned about monsters?” 

“Ashe...” Sylvain groaned, he had expected better from the guy, especially given the fact that Ashe had younger siblings that he had practically raised. 

“Anyways, she’s getting better but we both know that I have never been… that great at swimming” Felix mumbled the last part before slowly stepping into the water. Cringing at how cold it was but still continued on until he was standing next to the two of them. “You’re the swimming captain after all.” 

He chuckled, “yeah I am. I actually worked as a lifeguard one summer in Leicester” he smiled down at Isabel before getting off the pool float and standing back on his feet, Isabel still clinging to him. “Taught some swimming classes too but the kids were older than her.” 

“Whatever, don’t really expect you to make her a pro swimmer by the end of today” Felix mumbled before stepping forward and carefully peeled Isabel off of Sylvain, now the small Fraldarius was clinging on to him. 

“Maybe you should try a kiddie pool that way its baby steps instead of just plopping her into your fathers giant ass pool” Sylvain chuckled as he stretched his body. “Not that I’m complaining, you know that I love getting wet” he winked at the man and that immediately resulted in Felix splashing him with water. 

“Behave” Felix hissed but Sylvain didn’t miss the blush that was one the man’s cheeks. 

“Alright alright, I’ll _behave_ ” he grinned, “but you know I’m right.” 

“I fucken hate you so much some times” Felix huffed but his words held no malice. 

Sylvain hummed quietly, letting himself enjoy the nice moment of silence with Felix and Isabel as his body gently floated on the water. This was of course, the perfect opportunity to make talk to Felix about their past and maybe apologize for not being there for the younger man but he also didn’t want to ruin the good mood that Felix seemed to be as he gently walked around the pool with Isabel in tow, no, right now was not the time for him to feel guilty. 

“Dimitri tells me that she’s antisocial like you” Sylvain spoke up, the other man just glared at him. “Hey I’m just repeating what he said. I personally don’t believe him given the fact that she and I are best friends.” 

Felix rolled his eyes before walking over to the edge of the pool and letting Isabel out of it, “go tell your grandpa to get a towel for you and some food” Felix told Isabel as the little girl wasted no time in getting away from the pool and running to Rodrigue. “Don't run!” Isabel now walked to Rodrigue. 

Sylvain chuckled at the little girl before swimming closer to Felix. “You know, she’s super cute. I know I already told you that but she’s adorable. Truly. The cutest girl alive.” 

Felix snorted, “you say that to every girl you meet.” 

He gasped dramatically, “Felix! You know damn well that I have never given the title of cutest girl to anyone before!” 

The younger man just rolled his eyes again before turning to him, “Dimitri’s right, she’s not the friendliest kid…. i have no idea why she likes you, i don’t know what you did but she likes you.” 

“Don’t make it sound like a bad thing dickhead.” 

“Uh-huh well, she likes you so thanks I guess. For letting her know that strangers aren’t all that bad” Felix mumbled the last sentence, pointedly looking away from Sylvain. The redhead could only grin before standing up and looping his arm over the younger man's shoulders. 

“Aw Fe, did dad hood make you soft?” That was immediately answered by Felix’s Elbow connecting with his gut. “Fucken-“ he was immediately splashed with water. 

“Die.” 

“Asshole” Sylvain croaked out before splashing the man back and the two quickly lost themselves in the tiny water splashing battle they had going. 

**~ ♡ ~**

“Sylvain.” 

“Sssshhh.” 

“ _Sylvain_ ” 

“Shut up, you’re going to wake them up” he hissed at Ingrid before focusing back on the task at hand. Getting his phone out and focusing the lense back on the scene before him. Felix sleeping on the couch with Isabel curled up on his chest, the two a mess of inky hair and both snoring quietly, the two had somehow managed to tire themselves out after a fun day at the pool. It had no right to be this cute but it was and so Sylvain naturally had taken a total of 10 pictures already and was now recording it so that he could record the way that Isabel's snores were in sync with Felix’s. 

He smiled fondly at them, taking careful steps forward to get one last picture before putting his phone away. He sighed quietly, getting up and grabbing the blanket nearby to cover the two, making sure to tuck them in properly and having to restrain himself and not kiss the two on their foreheads. It killed him how much he wanted to do just that but he couldn’t so he simply turned back and smiled at Ingrid. 

“Tell Felix i have these pictures and I’m telling everyone about the one time you peed on my bed.” 

“ _You promised not to tell anyone_ ” she hissed quietly as the two walked out of the room and to the dining room where Dimitri, and Dorothea were still at. After a few minutes of getting to know the woman, Sylvain could now say that he approved of Ingrid’s taste. 

“They’re asleep and I will personally maim anyone that tries to wake them up” Sylvain explained as he sat down on the table, taking a sip of the coffee that Dorothea had made for them. 

“Felix will have trouble sleeping if he takes a nap now though” Dimitri frowned and Sylvain immediately fixed him with a pointed look. 

“I _will_ maim you.” 

Dorothea snorted as Ingrid sighed, sitting next to her and leaning forward. “Not even a whole two days and you’re back to your ‘Felix is my favorite’ shit?” 

He fake gasped, “Felix is not the _favorite_..... Isabel is.” 

Ingrid rolled her eyes. Dorothea giggling a little before leaning forward and whispering, “so what’s the story between you two?” 

“Ah that” Sylvain hummed quickly, taking a sip of his coffee before gently putting it down. “Yeah I’ve been in love with him my whole life, what about it?” 

“YOU WHAT?!” 

“Felix!” Sylvain chuckled nervously as he turned around to find Felix standing in the hallway bright red and eyes wide open. Well. “How was the nap?” Felix blinked repeatedly as he opened his mouth and closed it, opened it again and then closed it once more before he frowned at him. 

“What. Did. You. Say?” 

Well distraction didn’t work so Sylvain was running out of ideas as to how to avoid the fact that he had just nonchalantly said that. And well, he really was nonchalant about telling everyone how he felt about Felix, when he had first met Ashe that was literally the first thing he had said to him. To be exact it was: _“oh hey dude, you must be Ashe. Hey uh, quick question. You and Felix aren’t a thing right? Because i’ve kind of been in love with him my whole life so if you say yes I might actually have to hurt you.”_ Needless to say, Sylvain had gotten away with saying that shit for years now and it had never had any kind of repercussions. Mainly because everyone was cool enough to keep a secret and also because Felix had never walked in on him saying that shit. But oh well, Sylvain sighed, all he could do was just bullshit his way out of this and make it seem not as life altering as it is. 

“I love you. Come on, get with the program Fe, everyone knows this” Sylvain spoke before turning to Dorothea. “But anyways as I was saying. We both are really close, so much so that one can argue that _I_ should be Isabel's godfather and not Dimitri.” 

Dorothea blinked at him, her eyes flickering to where Felix was and then back to him before laughing. “Oh I like you” she snorted as she lightly smacked his arm. Turning to look at Ingrid, “and here you said that everyone that grew up in Faerghus didn’t know how to be open about their feelings.” 

“I am nothing but an open book, if you want I can tell you anything you want to know” Sylvain smiled. Behind her was Ingrid and Dimitri that looked equally in shock that he had just nonchalantly confessed to Felix after _years_ of pinning for the man. Which yes, Sylvain was screaming on the inside but at this point he was forcing himself to stay as carefree as he possibly could so that he wasn’t ruining anything. Fake it till you make it, he told himself. 

“So you’ve just been in love with your best friend your whole...life” Dorothea asked, clearly amused with the situation and completely unaware of the life shattering event that was happening. 

“I was 15 the minute I figured that out” Sylvain answered honestly because what the hell. He was already in deep might as well just go for it. “You know how being 15 is. Sometimes you just get your gay awakening when you see your friend get out of a pool, _it happens_.” 

“Honestly I understand that, I moved to Faerghus when I was 17 and when I saw Ingrid playing basketball I’m pretty sure that was what did it for” Dorothea mused. 

“ _See_ it happens to the best of us. I’m pretty sure that Dimitri had his gay awakening when we went to that medieval festival and he saw the knights there. We all go through them” Sylvain shrugged, taking another sip of his coffee. 

“Honestly though, I envy that you knew you were into guys by 15 I feel like I could’ve saved a lot of time if I had figured it out by then” Dorothea sighed. 

“You would think that right” Sylvain chuckled, “but bold of you to assume that internalized homophobia AND transphobia isn’t a thing.” 

At that Dorothea was pointing at him while nodding, “you’re right. You’re right.” 

He pointed back at her, “that’s the real kicker there” he chuckled as he leaned back on his chair, his arms crossed behind his head and sighing happily. Or at least pretending to be happy, at the moment he was crying on the inside. 

“I am surprised that you’re single. You’re such a looker, what is it Felix? He’s not your type” Dorothea asked as she looked over to Felix who was standing there completely frozen in place. “Felix? Oh no I think you broke him.” 

He chuckled nervously, “I hope not.” Clearing up his throat loudly and that was enough to cause Felix to snap out of the state he was in, blinking and looking around before his eyes landed on Sylvain and suddenly he was mad. Oh no he was mad. 

“ _YOU_.” 

“Alright alright let’s think about what you’re doing” Sylvain immediately jumped out of his seat and walked towards the other end of the room, hands up as if he was trying to placate a wild animal. “Let’s not get stabby just yet okay? Wouldn’t want Isabel to find out you stabbed her favorite uncle.” 

“I take offense to that,” Dimitri mumbled and instantly Felix was launching at Sylvain. The redhead yelped as he dodged the first attack and then bolted out of the room. He could hear Felix behind him and cursing at him but at this point Sylvain’s adrenaline had kicked in and so he was able to outrun the younger man, heading up the stairs and taking it two steps at a time. Practically leaping to the upstairs hallway and dashing to his room, bursting through his door but before he could slam it shut, Felix was pushing his way inside. 

“Okay hear me out Felix,” Sylvain stammered out, tripping over himself as he walked backward, cornered in his own room. “I-I can explain.” No he couldn’t. How the fuck does one explain that you’ve been in love with them for your entire life without it sounding like the plot of some knock off cheesy novel? 

“Years. For years you” Felix gritted out, his hands balled into white knuckled fists as he took a step closer to the redhead. “ _Sylvain_.” 

“I know I know, but to be fair everyone did know already and it hasn’t really impacted our friendship all that much” Sylvain chuckled nervously, talking faster than usual. “So yeah it’ll be awkward for a good bit but trust me, I’ve gotten good at suppressing this shit so you won’t even notice anything different with me! It’s fine, by the end of today you won’t even remember that I love you so no need to strangle me or anything. Plus by the end of the week I’m flying back to Leicester anyways so I’ll be out of your hair in no time.” 

Felix breathed in slowly, “why did you leave then.” Sylvain flinched slightly, scratching the back of his neck as he looked down at the floor. 

“Would you believe me if I told you that I wanted to ask you to come with me?” 

Felix was on him immediately, Sylvain yelped in surprise but that quickly got snuffed out as he felt Felix’s lips meet his. His eyes widening at the realization that Felix was kissing him. _Felix was kissing him_. And the damn broke, his hands immediately grabbing onto anything he could grab that was _Felix_. His waist, his back, his arms, his hair, anything. Pulling him closer as he kissed him back with years of desperation and love that he had suppressed. Letting himself openly moan when Felix pushed him up against a wall, the other man kissing him hungrily. 

Of course Felix was a biter. Of course Felix wasn’t the type to kiss gently, Sylvain could only sigh pleasantly as he let the other man take full control of their kiss. Parting his lips to allow Felix’s tongue inside and moaning once again at the way that Felix kissed him as if he was man starved. Felix’s hands grabbed onto his hips with a grip that Sylvain knew would leave bruises. Sadly though, they needed to actually be able to breathe and so they eventually pulled apart, Sylvain leaning his head on the wall and looking at Felix with fondness and awe in his eyes. He knew he probably looked wrecked, knew that he must look an absolute mess but he couldn't help but smirk at the way Felix looked at him with hungry eyes. 

“You’re an idiot” Felix growled before kissing him again. “A goddamn idiot” Sylvain felt the words said on his lips more than heard them, his arms coming up to wrap around Felix’s neck. Burying his hands on the other man's hair and pulling him closer. 

“I know” he breathed out. Drinking up the groan that escaped Felix’s lips when Sylvain took his bottom lip and nipped at it. Letting Felix’s tongue slip into his mouth and letting him take full control of their kiss again. Usually Sylvain hated the idea of someone taking charge and telling him what to do but he quickly found that he very much enjoyed letting himself be manhandled and used by Felix. 

“Fe,” Sylvain breathed out, trying to find the right way to ask about everything that was happening but Felix was much more preoccupied with giving open mouthed kisses to his neck. Grabbing Sylvain waist and pushing his body further into the wall as if that was even possible. 

Sylvain really was trying to have a conversation with Felix but that was getting progressively harder with all the bruises that Felix was leaving. A part of Sylvain could recognize that most of the bruises would be hard to cover up but this was also heaven and Sylvain was even shameless enough to grind his hips on Felix. His hand crawled up to grab Felix’s hair and pull him closer to him, moving his head to the side giving Felix more access to his neck. He really was trying to have a conversation, he thought. 

“Felix” Sylvain breathed out. He knew that they needed to talk but it was getting progressively harder to get his body and mind on the same page. “We need to — fuck — Felix wait.” 

It took a small tug on his hair to get Felix to listen but eventually Felix shifted to look up to him. He was still trappin Sylvain to the wall and his grip on his waist had, if only, gotten tighter. “What” he frowned, but in Sylvain’s opinion the frown only added to the appeal. His kissed swollen lips and the blush on his cheeks were already enough to make Sylvain breathless, add that with the way he was being bossy? Flames Sylvain could get addicted to this sight alone. 

Sylvain quickly shook those thoughts again — conversation. Yes. They had to have a conversation. “You’re kissing me.” 

Felix rolled his eyes, “no shit” he mumbled as he leaned to give Sylvains jaw open mouth kisses, momentarily stunting Sylvain but _no_. Conversation. 

“Felix” Sylvain spoke more sternly as he tugged on him again.

Felix sighed, “fine. Yes I’m kissing you Sylvain.” 

“That answers one thing okay.” 

Felix groaned as he rested his head on Sylvains shoulder. “You’re ruining the mood.” 

Sylvain chuckled, “Getting the mood back is something that could easily be arranged” he purred, letting his hands roam down Felix’s torso, his fingers a ghost touch on Felix’s waistline that made the smaller man gasp, before pulling his hands away. “But I’m really lost here Felix.” 

Felix sighed before pushing himself away from Sylvain and glaring at the redhead before sighing. “I’m only going to say this once so listen okay. I love you. I have since I was 13 and never stopped okay?” 

_Oh._ Sylvain would never admit out loud that he had temporarily forgotten that he had confessed his feelings to Felix a couple of seconds ago. But also, Sylvain had not thought even for a second, that Felix was actually interested in _him_. I mean after everything Sylvain had done how could he? And yeah he’ll admit that Felix was softer with him at times and that unlike the rest, he and Felix never really argued to the point of calling off the friendship for a couple of months or even years. But Sylvain still had done _a lot_ and had been an idiot for the entirety of highschool so could he really be blamed for being shocked about Felix liking him back?

Felix sighed, knowing full well what the redhead was thinking at the moment. “Sylvian,” he whispered, grabbing Sylvain's waist and pulling him closer. “I love you even if you’re the stupidest man I know.” 

“I left for 5 years.” 

“And I had a kid during that time and that certainly hasn’t stopped us from making out like teenagers” Felix huffed and instantly Sylvain was smiling. 

“We could do a lot more you know” Sylvain purred, cupping Felix’s face before leaning down to kiss him, slow and tender and so full of love because goddess, he loved him. And Felix loved him back and this was the best day of his entire fucken life. He was going to have to thank Dorothea, she didn't even know it but she was now the reason why Sylvain was kissing the love of his life. He couldn't be happier, he could die now and be completely okay with that. 

And then Isabel was screaming and both him and Felix were running out the door without hesitation. Neither even looking at each other as they bolted down the stairs and towards the sound of the screaming only to find that Isabel had been squealing not screaming, and was playing happily with Leo as she ran around the living room with Dimitri, Ingrid, and Dorothea peacefully looking after her. 

“Fucken hell” Felix breathed out before frowning, “Isabel, stop jumping on the couch!” 

“But dad!”

“No buts” Felix hissed before walking over to stop the little girl. Sylvain sighed in relief, he seriously almost shit himself at the thought that Isabel had been hurt. 

“Nice hair,” Dorothea said, making Sylvain turn around to look at the others. Dorothea was smirking, Ingrid was smiling and looking very clearly at his neck, and Dimitri was blushing slightly. That of course caused him to blush so much that he was sure the red on his face clashed with his hair. 

“Uh hi guys” he chuckled shyly, running his hand through his hair and trying to fix what Felix had ruined. There was no hiding his neck honestly so he just had to come to terms with the fact that everyone in the room knew what he and Felix had been doing. 

“I’m glad you two stopped being idiots” Ingrid sighed before returning back to the conversation she and Dimitri were having about dragons..?? Sylvain wasn’t going to question that and instead walked over to where Felix was now kneeling as Isabel explained in detail about the game she and Leo were playing. 

The little girl then turned to him, with a big toothy grin, “you’re still here!” 

Sylvain guessed the girl had assumed he was gone since he hadn’t been there when she woke up. He smiled, kneeling down next to her, “yup I’m still here” his eyes looked over to Felix, making eye contact with the man he has loved for as long as he could remember. “And I’m not going anywhere.” 

Because maybe, just maybe, he’ll finally be able to have that happy family living by the sea.

**Author's Note:**

> Claude: what the fuck do you mean you’re not coming back? You’re my head bartender Sylvain—no—SYLVAIN PLEASE WHAT ABOUT RENT?!
> 
> Go yell at me on [twitter](https://mobile.twitter.com/wrathiess)


End file.
